Last season, in his second year of pro action, the 6-1, 192-pound O’Donnell suited up for 42 games with the Wolf Pack, contributing three goals and three assists for six points. The Halifax, Nova Scotia native also served 69 minutes in penalties, fourth-most on the team. In 13 playoff games with Hartford, first career postseason action, O’Donnell notched two assists and 12 PIM.

O’Donnell also saw action in 12 games with the Wolf Pack’s ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors, in 2014-15, chalking up three goals and five assists for eight points, along with 19 PIM, a +5 and 26 shots on goal.

As a rookie in 2013-14, O’Donnell skated in 57 games with the Wolf Pack, scoring three goals and adding seven assists for ten points. He also served 85 minutes in penalties, the fifth-highest total on the Wolf Pack club.

Prior to turning pro, the 27-year-old O’Donnell played four years of Canadian University hockey at St. Mary’s University (AUS). In 103 career games at St. Mary’s, he totaled 24 goals and 38 assists for 62 points, along with 84 PIM. Following the conclusion of his university career, O’Donnell joined the Florida Everblades of the ECHL, playing five 2012-13 games and contributing 1-3-4. In 12 ECHL playoff contests, he chipped in two assists and logged 17 PIM.

O’Donnell originally signed an AHL contract with the Wolf Pack July 22, 2014.

The Wolf Pack’s 2015-16 home opener is set for Saturday, October 10 at the XL Center. Season ticket information for the Wolf Pack’s 2015-16 AHL campaign can be found on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com. To speak with a representative about all of the Wolf Pack’s many attractive ticketing options, call (855) 762-6451.

Vandane, 23, will enter his first professional campaign after spending the last two seasons at the University of Calgary. He registered 17 points (5g, 12a), 12 penalty minutes and a +7 rating in 33 contests with the Dinos.

“Davis is a tough defenseman who brings an offensive upside to the game,” Head Coach Brian Gratz said. “He has good size and moves well. I’m looking forward to seeing and utilizing his versatility.”

Prior to his collegiate career, the Yorkton, Saskatchewan native played four seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) from 2009-2013. In 189 regular-season games, Vandane amassed 79 points (15g, 64a), 92 penalty minutes and a combined +27 rating with Saskatoon, Spokane and Prince Albert. The 6’4, 215-pound blueliner added seven assists and 16 penalty minutes in 34 playoff contests.

In addition, Vandane played two seasons alongside current Rangers’ prospect Josh Nicholls in Saskatoon (2009-2011) and spent another season with Tampa Bay Lightning star Tyler Johnson in Spokane (2010-11).

Vazzano, 24, turned pro near the end of last season when he made six appearances between the pipes for Evansville. Previously, the Trumbull, Connecticut native spent two seasons in net at the University of Vermont and was also the primary starter for two seasons at Sacred Heart University. He played alongside current Rangers’ prospect Chris McCarthy during both seasons at Vermont.

The 6’2, 200-pound netminder was selected in the third round (#34 overall) by Waterloo in the 2009 USHL Entry Draft.

Ticket plans for the Road Warriors’ sixth season in the Upstate are available now and start as low as $81! Call an Account Executive today at 864-674-PUCK or CLICK HERE to secure your seats! The Road Warriors open their home portion of the 2015-16 season on Friday, October 23rd with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop against the South Carolina Stingrays.

HARTFORD, CT – Since the release of the SCI Report in March regarding the proposal for a new, downtown XL Center at the same spot, not much has happened publicly, but behind the scenes is a different story as Cantlon’s Corner can exclusively report.

The public portion is about to kick into high gear as the CRDA seeks to get a unified proposal to take to the public and the legislature.

The process, since the spring unveiling of a two-option solution to the aging, desiccated 40-year-old building, has produced some good news and some bad news.

First, the bad news.

The $500 million option, plus acquisition and demolition costs, which were both undefined, has been taken off the table. Given the current financial shape the state is in, that should surprise no one. But with that money off the table, with that goes the dream of returning the NHL to Hartford. That news will disappoint its committed coterie of diminishing fans.

It’s not that the CRDA didn’t dip its toes into the recent NHL expansion waters.

“We had discussions with a group and in the final analysis there was too short a time frame and a very cost prohibitive process, that quite frankly, Hartford didn’t have the ability and wasn’t able to enter at this time,” CRDA Executive Director Mike Freimuth said. Friemuth declined to identify the name of the investment group.

The winners in Las Vegas and Quebec City had numerous advantages over Hartford.

“Look, Vegas is a casino. They have a boatload of cash with which to operate and are in the process of building a new facility. Quebec City has the federal (actually provincial) government backing it and they have a brand new building all done (set to open in September). We are at the very beginning of the process and when you look at $10 million just to apply, another $500 million to get into the league and on top of that build a brand new building at $500 million plus with the all the issues we have to face, it was very steep price tag and time frame we couldn’t match,” Freimuth said.

The process did reveal two things to Freimuth, “Seattle is a city the NHL clearly covets and I’m surprised they did not submit a bid. I think when they get someone to commit on a building there I bet there will be an NHL team in Seattle someday.”

The talk of relocation has also been around, but the NHL under Gary Bettman has loathed to go down that road. Winnipeg was fortunate as it came into a perfect storm to get the then floundering, Atlanta Thrashers.

“We did learn there are three NHL franchises who are likely candidates for relocation, but there seems to be no real movement in that direction at all.”

Friday’s unanimous passage of a new amended two-year agreement between the City of Glendale and the Arizona Coyotes, by the very same city council that voted to terminate their lease a month ago, shows the soap opera like issues surrounding the team will continue in the Southwest desert region for as long as the NHL will tolerate it.

On the plus side, the $250 million dollar proposal, plus atrium acquisition costs and demolition costs still undefined, is very much alive and much work has been on going to solidify it. It too has many mountain steps yet still to climb.

Governor Dannel Malloy is said to be supportive of the CRDA’s $250 million proposal and that is part of the reason the final report is, well, not so final. The firm SCI Architects of New York City, the ones who did the report, have been asked to submit a further detailed breakdown of the costs and construction time frames of a renovated XL Center in maintaining building operation.

“The Governor came to us and said is that number rock solid? Let’s get a firm handle on the numbers and go forward,” Freimuth said. By the fall, the breakdown analysis will be completed and given to the CRDA. The other key linchpin, and quite frankly to any new building, is the relationship with UCONN. That also must also be in place in the fall.

Sitting on UCONN’s desk is a 20-year operation agreement proposal covering all three teams that will operate in the building (men’s and women’s basketball and college hockey).

“It is vital to have this nailed down to move forward in this process. We have a proposal of sharing revenue from sponsorship, seating, and concessions. In exchange, we have to have a threshold number of games at the building we need to make this work. A 30 game per sport per year is there. I can’t go into any other details as you can understand, but this is critical that we need a return on the investment. The $500 million we had doubled the costs and was not doable and we think this deal fits both UCONN’s needs and ours,” said Freimuth.

Reminder, the two sides agreed on a five-year deal at the present XL Center, but UCONN never signed the contract and works on a game-to-game basis, a highly unusual move. The inclusion of UCONN hockey in the proposal makes clear the proposed on-campus hockey arena in Mansfield is a non-starter and a UCONN Hartford campus makes the XL Center their on-campus arena in their eyes and meets their Hockey East requirements.

Even if agreed to, and the process of selling the $250 million proposal to the legislature which would vote to bond whatever the final number is, is not a slam dunk or even an easy tap-in to be approved. Freimuth was blunt in the fact that resisting putting a proposal to the legislature this year and waiting a year was a wise move.

“Given what just happened there (in the legislature during in the budget process) we would have been sawdust. This is an uphill battle and is by no means settled. The jury is still out and a lot of questions and good ones, have been asked. We’re working on putting forth the best proposal we can for the XL Center.”

According to Freimuth, the proposal, when finalized, would go to the Finance committee and would become a budget item as a capital expenditure project.

“This whole process is a Rubik cube. You might get all the colors on one side and be all over the place on the other three sides and that’s the nature of dealing with one of the most complex and challenging endeavors to get involved with. People want a quick or easy answer with all these elements, it’s just not possible.”

The future interest rates for bonding also remain tenuous. If the federal Treasury raises interest rates, the long-term costs of the project would be elevated thus making an already difficult proposition even harder for the legislature with so many extenuating budget commitments.

The XL Center’s other major tenant, the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack, are entering its 19th season and the last year of their contract before the two, one-year options at their disposal kick in.

Freimuth was coy about their future.

“We have had talks about this with MSG, and granted they are heading into the final year of their deal. I hope they are around when we hopefully start construction of a new place.”

The CRDA also completed another piece of the puzzle in acquiring the Church Street garage from the city of Hartford with $16 million of state bonding money and the work is about to begin.

“Were taking active bids right now on the repair and renovations and we hope to make selections next month and start the work. We’re absolutely committed to integrating it to the XL Center. It’s not going to happen overnight, but gradually, as we do the repairs, we will start to do so.”

The CRDA also has concluded an operational contract on the atrium portion of XL Center with Northland Corporation, but the final status talks on ownership are down the road and have not yet begun.

Lastly, Freimuth expressed optimism that the Wolf Pack and minor-league, professional hockey will be operating at the XL Center even though they team aggregately added about 400 more fans in its year-end numbers, despite the budget cuts by the state, Freimuth has an optimistic feel for the 2015-16 calendar year.

“We finished up the year well. All the numbers are trending upwards for hockey. We had a couple of very good concerts, especially the Eagles concert did exceptionally well. Certainly, the budget cuts hurt. Right now we’re holding our own, but we will feel the pain. We’re not alone. Everybody in the (state) budget took a hit. We expected problems. I’ll be honest, we didn’t expect it would be daily in some instances, but I think we have turned a corner.”

Whether that corner will a brick wall or open pathway will be determined in the fall and winter seasons.

Confirmation of all that was whispered about a few months ago for next year, not only about having one division, the newly created Pacific Division, but their playing only 68 games while the rest of the league will play 76, has all happened. Couple that with the new bizarre percentage-points-based playoff system that’s been spawned because of it.

You may need a degree in trigonometry to figure out how the AHL playoff races are going to be figured out next spring. Continue reading →

“Tyler’s addition is a huge piece to strengthening our defensive corps,” Head Coach Brian Gratz said. “He has good experience at this level and is the kind of player we’ve been looking to add to our blue line. He is hard-nosed and physical, and has a lot of potential to continue to enhance his role with the team.”

A third-year pro, Elbrecht spent each of his first two seasons with Toledo and Idaho, providing a strong and physical presence on the back line. He led the Walleye with 117 penalty minutes last season, and added 12 points (2g, 10a) and a +17 rating in 66 regular-season games. Elbrecht also produced six penalty minutes in seven playoff contests, helping Toledo reach the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals. He was a teammate of Road Warriors’ Assistant Coach Troy Schwab in 2014-15 as well.

A native of Edwardsville, Illinois, Elbrecht debuted with Idaho during the 2013-14 campaign and recorded seven points (1g, 6a) and 110 penalty minutes in 45 contests. He was traded to Toledo on February 24, 2014 and chipped in two assists and 62 penalty minutes in 21 games with the Walleye.

Prior to turning pro, Elbrecht spent four seasons at Minnesota State University-Mankato from 2009-2013. In 142 contests, he notched 27 points (3g, 24a) and 103 penalty minutes, and was named team captain in his junior and senior seasons. The 6’4, 210-pound defenseman also played one season of junior hockey in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and won the 2008 Clark Cup Championship with the Omaha Lancers.

Follow: Keep up with the Road Warriors throughout the off-season and interact with other fans on the Official Road Warriors Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram pages.

Ticket plans for the Road Warriors’ sixth season in the Upstate are available now and start as low as $81! Call an Account Executive today at 864-674-PUCK or CLICK HERE to secure your seats! The Road Warriors open their home portion of the 2015-16 season on Friday, October 23rd with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop against the South Carolina Stingrays.

Posted onJuly 19, 2015|Comments Off on CANTLON’S CORNER: THIS WEEK IN HOCKEY NEWS

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Heading towards the one quiet month of the hockey year in August, there have been quite a few moves occurring this off-season affecting Connecticut hockey.

Wolf Pack Signings

The New York Rangers re-signed center Oscar Lindberg to a new two-year, one-way deal that pays him $600K in this upcoming season and $700K the following year.

Lindberg, one of the Hartford Wolf Pack‘s top players last season, totaled 28 goals and 28 assists (56 points) in 75 games. Lindberg was an RFA (Restricted Free Agent) who was courted by several KHL teams during this off-season. Lindberg led the Wolf Pack with six game-winning goals, was the second-highest scoring European in the AHL with 16 points in the 15 playoff games.

“Lindy” played his first NHL game late last season at MSG. Lindberg was originally acquired from Arizona who drafted him in the 2nd round in 2010 for forward Ethan Werek in May 2011. Now that Martin St. Louis has retired and the Rangers haven’t re-sign James Sheppard a UFA there are two roster spots for him and Ryan Bourque to fill.

Defenseman Dylan McIlrath, a first round pick in 2010just completed his third AHL season signed a one-year, one-way NHL deal at $600K for the 2015-16 season. Big Mac had a strong campaign for the Wolf Pack playing in 73 games and compiling 17 points six of which were pucks shot into the back of the net. McIlrath also had a team-leading 165PIM and was a plus-five. You cannot discount how important the role he played in the playoffs was for the Rangers top development team. McIlrath used his 6’5, 230lb frame regularly against opponents during their 15 game run. He also knocked the Manchester Monarch’s Mike Mersch out of the conference final series with a strong, clean hit.

If McIlrath does start the year in Hartford, and considering the heavy contract presence on defense in New York, unless a trade occurs he could possibly wear the “C” on his jersey.

Mat Bodie was re-signed on Thursday to a one-year, two-way deal with a $10K increase on his AHL salary to $80K. Emerson Etem, who was acquired at the NHL draft for one time CT Whale Carl Hagelin, was signed to a one-year, two-way deal. Etem’s AHL salary is listed at $70,875.

Converted center Marek Hrivik signed a one-year deal earlier in the week. He saw a miniscule increase of $3,250 to $68,250 for next year.

Recently acquired RFA goaltender Magnus Hellberg, the lone representative for the Milwaukee Admirals at the AHL All-Star in Utica, agreed to a two-year deal. his AHL compensation was set at $73,500 which is just a $3,500 increase over his Admirals salary last year.

The only players left unsigned from the Pack roster last season are, Joey Crabb, who some sources indicate the Hershey Bears are pursuing; goaltender Jason Missiaen, a Group 6 UFA who struggled mightily the last two years, and who is extremely unlikely to be re-signed and forward Shawn O’Donnell. Sources indicate that several teams are seeking after O’Donnell.

The Bodie signing means 25 non-roster players have been signed by the Rangers and 47 in New York. The two key numbers to always to remember in the cap era under the current CBA rules are 23 players that can be on an NHL team and a total of 50 organizational contracts are permitted.

Up top, the Rangers last big contracts to be worked on were all big RFA’s in Derek Stepan, J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast. Fast signed up for two years at $950K on a one-way deal while Miller accepted his qualifying offer of $874,125 for a one-year, two-way contract preserving his arbitration rights under the CBA.

The tentative Wolf Pack roster for next season looks like this:

GOALTENDERS:

Hellberg

Cederic Desjardins (last year of a two-year deal at $325K)

Mackenzie Skapski (second year of three-year entry deal at $65K. Skapski is recovering from off-season arthroscopic hip surgery and will likely miss all of training camp).

Former Wolf Pack Pascal Rheaume was named new assistant coach with the Iowa Wild (AHL) after being head coach in Sherbrooke (QJHL) the last two years.

Former Wolf Pack defenseman Drew Bannister gets his first head coaching gig with Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) after three years as an assistant with Owen Sound (OHL). He is also the son-in-law to former Wolf Pack assistant coach Mike Busniuk.

Former Wolf Pack head coach Ryan McGill stepped down as head coach from Kootenay (WHL) in April as did assistant coach ex-Pack Jay Henderson.

Dave Farrish, a former Rangers player from the ‘80’s and a former New Haven Nighthawk, signs with Colorado (NHL) to be an assistant coach.

Another ex-Nighthawk, Scott Gordon, takes over the coaching duties with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) in the fall.

Former Quinnipiac Bobcat, Loren Barron, who played one game with Missouri (ECHL) and the rest of the year in Endinburgh, Scotland has retired to take an out of hockey opportunity.

In Endinburgh, ex-Sound Tiger, the 6’8 Riley Emmerson, was named playing Head coach of the EIHL team.

Ex-Sound Tiger from Year One Juraj Kolnik signs with Nottingham Panthers in England (EIHL).

Mike Souza, the ex-Sound Tiger, leaves as UCONN assistant coach job to become the associate head coach of fellow Hockey East member University of New Hampshire and is expected to become head coach when Dick Umile retires first reported by Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant..

UCONN Huskies head coach Mike Cavanaugh names Brendan Buckley, who he coached at Boston College, as his new assistant along with West Haven native Joe Peirara.

The Sound Tigers signed two players from last season in defenseman Kevin Czuczman and foward Mike Halmo to one-year, two-way deals with an AHL salary of $70K each. They also signed former #1 draft pick of Montreal Louis Leblanc to a one year $67,500K deal announced on Friday.

Paul Bissonnette becomes the first player signed for the new Ontario Reign (AHL).

Phillip Samuelson, the eldest son of ex-Hartford Whaler, New York Ranger and Wolf Pack assistant coach, Ulf Samuelson, has signed to a one-year, one-way $600K deal with the Arizona Coyotes.

Former Yale defenseman Gus Young stays with the Sharks and signs an AHL deal with their new farm team San Jose Barracuda.

Former Quinnipiac player, Bryce Van Brabant, signs a one-year, two-way deal with the Calgary Flames at $73,500 as so does former Yale Bulldog, Ken Agostino who’ll earn $70,875. Both will likely be in Stockton to start the AHL season.

Former CT Whale Kelsey Tessier returns to Rogle BK in the Swedish in the SHL where he played two years ago when they were in the Allsvenskan league.

Old-time Wolf Pack still playing is Colby Genoway who goes from HC Lausanne (Switzerland-LNA) to KHL Medvescak Zagreb (Croatia-KHL).

Twelve more AHL’ers signed for Europe (playing 20 games or more) led by ex-Pack Jason Williams going from Oklahoma City to Cologne (Germany-DEL), high scoring winger Bobby Butler from San Antonio to MODO (Sweden-SHL), Albany’s Tim Sestito goes from Albany to Dynamo Riga (Latvia-KHL), Danill Tarasov goes from Worcester to Spartak Moscow (Russia-KHL), Mark Mancari from San Antonio to Augsburger (Germany-DEL), Jean-Philippe Cote Syracuse to Iserlohn (Germany-DEL) and David Wolf returns to his native Germany from Adirondack to play again for Hamburg Freezers (DEL).

Kevin Quick, former Salisbury Prep player returns from Dundee (Scotland-EIHL) and signs with Indianapolis (ECHL).

Luke Stevens, son of the former Ranger Kevin Stevens, a Yale University committed athlete for 2016-17, has had his USHL rights traded to the Chicago Steel from Youngstown whose new head coach is Dan Muse, a former Yale assistant coach.

The new Milwaukee Admirals uniforms were unveiled on Wednesday. The angry pirate is in – no poofy shirts. See it HERE;

Former Ranger Martin Rucinsky retires from playing at age 43 after winning the Czech title this spring with HC Litvinov.

Former Yale assistant coach Kyle Wallack and former New Haven Senator Kevin Patrick both were elevated to associate head coach at the University Vermont Catamounts (HE).

NHL early Central Scouting Bureau list for prospects in 2015-16 feature the son of Wolf Pack Mathieu Sevigny, Pierre, born in Hartford who plays with Drummondville (QMJHL) and Pierre-Luc Dubois son of Nighthawk Eric Dubois is with Cape Breton (QMJHL) on the list.

Khristian Acosta of New Jersey (USPHL U-18) makes a commitment to Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) 2017-18.

Rangers 2015 draftee Robin Kovacs was selected by North Bay (OHL) in the CHL Import Draft.

Former Rangers, Hartford Whaler and Beast of New Haven Marek Malik starts his coaching career as an assistant coach with HC Frydek-Mitek in the Czech Republic Division-3 next season.

In Europe, a big change that will likely help AHL players looking for a new destination to play. The French Ice Hockey Federation announced it will be expanding its Magnus (Elite) League regular season schedule starting in 2016-17 to 50 games on par with Switzerland and Germany. Presently, the league has just a 26 game schedule. The number teams will be 12 or the current number of 14.

The Syracuse Crunch and Binghamton Senators will play an exhibition series against HC Lyon of the Magnus League at the start of training camp in September

Bodie, 25, skated in 75 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) this past season, registering five goals and 27 assists for 32 points, along with a plus-11 rating and 42 penalty minutes. He led AHL rookie defensemen in assists and tied for first among AHL rookie defensemen in points in 2014-15. Bodie tied for first on the Wolf Pack in plus/minus rating, tied for second in games played, and ranked third in assists. In addition, he led Hartford defensemen in games played, assists, and plus/minus rating, ranked second in points, and tied for third in goals. Bodie registered his first career AHL assist/point as part of a two-assist effort while making his AHL debut on Oct. 12 at Syracuse. He tallied his first career AHL goal and the game-winning goal on Oct. 21 at Worcester. Bodie posted a season-high four-game assist/point streak from Feb. 14 vs. Albany to Feb. 20 at Springfield. Continue reading →

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mitch Beck was a standup comedian and radio personality for over 25 years. His passion for hockey started with Team USA in 1980 when they defeated the Soviets at Lake Placid. He is now self-employed and has been reporting on the New York Rangers, and exclusively on the Hartford Wolf Pack / Connecticut Whale since 2005.